PEPA Rocks Cleveland and The Sunshine State
“It was the best of times. It was the best of times,” said Matt Dobson, PEPA’s Senior Vice President, referring to another busy but successful code hearing month, as both the Florida Building Commission and the International Code Council (ICC) completed their Fall code hearings in late October.
Matt participated in the ICC hearings in Cleveland, along with PEPA Code Development Work Group members Neil Sexton of CertainTeed, Rob Balfanz of Progressive Foam, Melissa Mueller of Westlake Royal Building Products and Dean Martin of Provia; while PEPA consultant Fernando Pagés Ruiz covered the Florida Building Commission hearings in Gainesville on behalf of the association.
The results of these sessions revealed another winning effort for PEPA’s code development program.
The biggest gains from both forums included:
- Addition of the backed vinyl siding (ASTM D7445) category
- Implementation of a new alternative fastening table with a focus on ring shank nails and a new furring prescription
- Bolstering the codes’ recognition of starter strips and utility trims, including finally getting approval from the International Building Code’s (IBC) Structural Committee
“Overall, very good progress has been made on all our issues except for one,” Matt explained. “We’re trying to broaden the definition of soffits and installation of soffits to include porch ceilings, ceilings of raised buildings using pile construction (used in coastal areas) and carports. The committee was getting close to approval but recognized a few design considerations from ASCE 7 that we need to modify to reflect these conditions.”
Matt is grateful for the input and support from the PEPA members who attended the ICC hearings in Cleveland. The process has been several years in the making and involves not only the Code Development Work Group but also work by PEPA’s Technical Committee and the Installation Central Work Group.
“I can’t thank Rob, Neil, Melissa and Dean enough for their contributions that made our big wins possible,” Matt said. “I also want to congratulate Fernando for his success in Florida, where our proposals were well received and approved in almost all cases,” noting that for the Florida Building Code, PEPA is waiting for input from IBHS and FEMA on those soffit considerations akin to what the association is working on for the ICC.
Progress with Opposition
In addition to their proposals that were passed, the PEPA team was effective in expressing opposition to proposals from other groups that were deemed overreaching. They include:
- RB219. A proposal to lower the thickness of fiber cement was blocked with support from PEPA, as they felt it was inappropriate. “This is an issue that should be handled through alternative means, namely the manufacturers’ code compliance reports,” Matt indicated.
- State Government (of New York) Proposal for Additional Construction Documentation. “This information is readily available from the manufacturers, so approval of this would have contributed to repetitious and more costly work for manufacturers to comply with the construction permitting process,” he explained.
Next Steps
Of the 16 ICC proposals submitted by the PEPA team, 14 were accepted in 2025. Keep in mind that in the 2024 cycle (fire safety-related), PEPA had two other proposals approved as well, while two proposals related to combustible mulch were not successful. This brings the total for the entire ICC cycle to 16 of 20 successful proposals.
The two outstanding proposals for 2025 involve soffits and the deletion of an obsolete table on installation. To bat a thousand, they will be working on the following next steps:
- Make final “tweaks” in Florida over the next month. Matt will be forwarding the current draft proposals from Florida over the next week that need attention.
- Final comments in the ICC process are due in early January. PEPA has at least four comments to consider, which they will address during the Code Development Work Group meeting in early December.
- The first comment has already been submitted on combustible mulch.
- The second comment speaks to the removal of an outdated table.
- The third comment pertains to the further revision of the soffit definition in the IBC. “We were successful in getting this change made for the International Residential Code (IRC),” Matt noted.
- The fourth comment addresses a minor edit to the alternative fastening table in the IBC.
The final step for code development in this cycle will be the public comment hearings in Hartford, CT, in April 2026. Most of the changes made from PEPA proposals will end up on the consent agenda for these hearings, which almost ensures that these vital code developments will be included in the 2027 I-Codes. The Florida process is near completion, which will result in the 2026 Florida Building Codes with an effective date of December 31, 2026.
For questions about PEPA’s code efforts or the Code Development Work Group, please get in touch with Matt Dobson at mdobson@polymericexteriors.org.